Bad Biased Blood: How Money Talks

IQUITOS, PERU—Saying he was trying not to think about how awful the next few days would be, master ayahuasca shaman Piero Salazar expressed his sense of dread Tuesday as he confirmed his week would once again be spent guiding American tech CEOs to spiritual oneness Ahuasca Shaman dreading another week of guiding tech capitalists

How Did The High-Culture New Criterion Possibly Come To Embrace Trump?

Traditionally we think of decadence as an excess of self-consciousness; when irony and reflection come to dominate a culture, we are told its faith in itself has been sapped and it has not long to go. But as the conservative intellectual teaches us, it is the lack, rather than the surfeit, of self-reflection that is really fatal. Without it, erudition calcifies into ornament, and the act of thinking itself becomes a mere pretense.

'Pompous popinjay': Boris Johnson furious after Trump cancels visit

Wish I Voted for Sanders, Says Laid-Off Carrier Worker Duped by ‘Con Man’ Trump Common Dreams

How Money Won Trump the White House

Contrary to media reports, Trump made significant contributions to his Presidential campaign.

Ryan calls Trump ‘s—hole’ remarks ‘unhelpful’ and ‘unfortunate’ The Hill

Trump’s vile new low The Week

Fire, fury and the real trouble with Trump FT. On Levitsky and Ziblatt’s How Democracies Die.

Trump Exceptionalism Will Kill Every Last One Of Your Brain Cells Current Affairs. A contrasting view of Levitsky and Ziblatt.

Transcript of Donald Trump Interview With The Wall Street Journal WSJ

Katie Roiphe And Harper’s Were Going To Out Creator Of ‘Shitty Media Men’ List – Here’s What Happened When Word Got Out

Literary Twitter erupted; a co-founder of The Toast offered to pay writers if they pulled their articles from Harper’s in protest; writers did – and other publications lined up buy those articles. Madeleine Aggeler reports on how things went down and how the magazine responded.

The FX show The Americans follows a married couple, Philip and Elizabeth Jennings, who are Soviet spies living in America during the 1980s. In the course of their spying activities, the KBG couple often don disguises to protect their identities. Costume designer Katie Irish is responsible for dressing the couple on the show, and she’s been sharing some of the fashion inspiration boards for those disguises (as well as other costumes) on her Twitter and Instagramaccounts.

Celeste Headlee is an expert in talking to people. As part of her job as a public radio host and interviewer, she talks to hundreds of people each year, teasing from her guests what makes them interesting. At a TEDx conference two years ago, Headlee shared 10 tips for having a better conversations that work for anyone:

1. Don’t multitask.
2. Don’t pontificate.
3. Use open-ended questions.
4. Go with the flow.
5. If you don’t know, say that you don’t know.
6. Don’t equate your experience with theirs.
7. Try not to repeat yourself.
8. Stay out of the weeds.
9. Listen.
10. Be brief.

Watch the video for the explanations of each point. I’m pretty good on 1, 5, & 7 while I struggle with 3, 4, and sometimes 6. 9 is a constant struggle and depends on how much I’ve talked with other people recently. (via swissmiss)

Update: From the WSJ, Save Yourself From Tedious Small Talk.

Much of our day-to-day talk is a missed opportunity. The ability to draw others into meaningful conversations can determine whether people want to get to know you, or remember you at all. Failure to learn it can stall your career.

Vanessa Van Edwards had been attending networking events for several years during and after college when she realized she was having the same conversation again and again. “It went like this: So what do you do? Yeah. Where are you from. Yeah, yeah, been there. Do you live around here? Well, I’d better go get another glass of wine,” says Ms. Van Edwards, a Portland, Ore., corporate trainer and author of “Captivate,” a new book on social skills.

She started trying conversation-openers that jarred people a bit, in a pleasant way: “Have you been working on anything exciting recently?” Or, “Any exciting plans this summer?”

“If I’m feeling very brave, I ask, ‘What personal passion projects are you working on?’” Ms. Van Edwards says. She began making contacts who followed up more often.

Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst by Robert Sapolsky.

Due to my work filming with former jihadis, I’ve become very interested in understanding more about human interaction. Behave explores human nature, from the firing of a synapse all the way to the broader effects of culture. Based on a wide and multidisciplinary knowledge of science, this book provides a fascinating exploration of humanity, which might give us some important information on how we can work towards a better future for us all.

The Monster at the End of This Book by Jon Stone.

I recently reread this children’s classic. It’s surprisingly relevant now, and shows us the irrational fears we can have of various groups.